Friday, November 11, 2005

Funky Friday's Classic 12" - Body Rock


Today I'm giving you some old school hip hop. OK, it's from 1998 so it's only seven years old, but it is from a mini golden age of hip hop that was spawned by the mid to late '90s indie rap power label Rawkus Records. Mos Def. Talib Kweli. Hi Tek. Pharoahe Monch. The Lyricist Lounge compilations. All of this talent came out of the label. It was almost a second coming of the "Native Tongues" - positive, funky, playful. In 2001 Rawkus sold out to MCA Records, and the ideals of the original label slowly faded away. But for a while there it was where it was at. Witness the freshness of 1998's Body Rock, a collaboration by Mos Def, A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip and West Cost rapper Tash. Over a supremely tight beat - feel that snare shot - producer Shawn J. Period lays a deep bass line and some seriously jazzy guitar licks - soft, George Benson style riffs. The rappers rip up the mike with all manner of humorous pop culture references and party lines. It's the shit, and another fine classic 12" performance.

[Mos Def]
Aight, uhh, alright y'all slow down I'm tryin ta
Aight, yo I I only took a little bit of Spanish you gotta
Aight I hear what you're sayin but yo, aight okay
Alright okay, alright okay okay
Alright okay, I'm feelin you, okay
Alright okay, alright okay okay
Alright okay, I'm feelin you yo
All my people in Brooklyn and you know we're hot, I say
We don't stop, the Body Rock
All my people in Queens and the land in between say we
Don't stop, the Body Rock
Shaolin and L-I say you know we're fly, say we
Don't stop, the Body Rock
From the East to the West son we take it to the chest say we
Don't stop, the Body Rock

Check me out y'all
I'm in the lab with Ab, I got the band they're fat
My man T-A-S-H take it to your breastplate
It's the Mighty Mos Def, complete the trilogy
Just shot myself a dime, see are you feelin me?
Son I'm wicked and nice when I'm on facility
Let me take a sec to review what I wrote.. *paper rustling*
.. "Mos Def and I sound par fresh" OK it's dope
let's record this ('cord this) they gonna want dis (want dis)
And all area crew is gonna flaunt this *clapping*
And when we step to the plate Pah it's flawless
My man T-A-S-H with styles glory great
Great, great great, great great uh uhh uh uhh uh uhh uh

[Tash]
Up next we got CaTash with that West coast rhymin
Bombin niggaz with the style that's dangerous as mountain climbin (ahhhh!)
Cause the Alkie words I'm spittin be twistin while you listenin
Plus I'm in this motherfucker with the Likwit coalition
Gotta leave you in position, twist it backwards like dough go
While you starin down my throat like, "Is he drunk or is he sober?"
WHO KNOWS, all I know is Tash got flows
and got the technique to get the ladies out of they clothes
I been overly exposed to the forty-oh's and chickens
So I'ma keep it pumpin til the beat stop kickin
or til the plot thickens, cause this is how we do
CaTashTrophe, Mos Def, and the brother man QUE!!!!

[Q-Tip]
What's up Tash, hey yo, Tip can't call it
Sure as Mos is Def and you Alkaholik
I'ma be surfin at, thing that's worth dealin
Hypodermically, shoot up your feelin
Figuratively, speakin of course now
old and greedyness, seekin it's course now
what we gonna do, eradicate them
Shoot them from the jam, they fear disease

[Mos Def]
Tash Love... are you ready to rock the mic?
Q-Tip... are you ready to rock the mic!
Mos Def... are you ready to rock the mic?
We got the universal style that you got to like!
And ain't nobody steppin up when we got the mic
So turn the A.C. up cause it's hot tonight!
And til the bright early morn' we be rockin you all
Don't stop, the Body Rock!

[Tash]
Cause I'm next to flex, and I'm technically advanced
to turn you on like cybersex, so in less than two sec's
I blind MC's like Thomas Dolby with the Science that'll leave
they braincells fryin slowly (FIRE!) so slowly I flow and
express written consent, from the undergroundin niggaz
Coast II Coast I represent cause gettin bent, I do
but I'm doper than sherm plus the way I put it down
could burn the perm off Big Worm, so peace and pipe this greeting
of the Last Action Hero that be freezin rappers dead in they tracks
like Sub Zero (Zero), cause Rico ain't no joke
I eat your flows and yo' beat up rappers even feel my presence
when I'm home with my feet up

[Mos Def]
for what you skied up or treed up
Relax and pull a seat up, make your landlord turn the heat up
Got the opposition shook like Tiger Woods about to tee up
So niggaz no competition with the clear Mos Definition
MC's screamin now for years can't rhyme without they mom's permission
You just a young'un comin out, gettin gassed to run your mouth
Wildin on the Runabout, Baby Pah you comin out
Barkin that you want a bout but son you know the comeabout
when Mos Def blow up and, you don't, nuttin
Don't you know nuttin? My crew go huntin
We keep it on the norm then we transform som'in
And while, we do it, you bounce to it
The cops wanna stop the Body Rock but don't do it

[Q-Tip]
DY-NO-MITE!!! Like Jimmy J.J.
Swap down pen-ny, somewhere in L.A. (A)
Now we got to bond like Voltron (tron)
Tash you the bomb, Mos you the won ton (ton)
Q will pick the lead, I must drop on thee (thee)
A-B-S, I bust down, facility (ty)
T-R-A-C-T is the MC (cee)
It's the LL, inside the place to be (be)

[Mos Def]
Tash Love... are you ready to rock the mic?
Q-Tip... are you ready to rock the mic!
Mos Def... are you ready to rock the mic?
We got the universal brothers that you got to like!
Now ain't nobody steppin up when we got the mic
So turn your A.C. up cause it's hot tonight!
And til the bright early morn' we'll be rockin you all
Don't stop, the Body Rock!

All my people out in Queens that know you're hot, you say
Don't stop, the Body Rock!
All my people out in Brooklyn and you know we're hot, say
Don't stop, the Body Rock!
Shaolin to L-I and you know we're fly, said
Don't stop, the Body Rock!
All the people on the Greens and the land in between said
Don't stop, the Body Rock!

... no stoppin
... no stoppin
Out in Jersey ... no stoppin
Philadelp-i-I ... no stoppin
Chi Town gettin down ... the playgrounds
Detroit you say ... no stoppin
In Cali ... no stoppin
And the great V-A ... no stoppin
Cause in the Brooklyn town ... no stoppin
And the Boogie Down ... no stoppin
L-I and Queens ... no stoppin
And you see Medina Greens ... no stoppin
You know we, Lyricist Lounge ... no stoppin
And my man Abstract ... no stoppin
Cause see we never the wack ... no stoppin
Don't stop, the Body Rock
D-dah, don't stop

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